Today's Opinions

I have been reading with interest, the preparation for kissing the pig.

I was born in Nebraska (a state not a stranger to pigs), but have lived extensively on farms in Iowa and Arkansas. I believe this leaves me qualified to weigh in on the important matter of the pig kissing contest.

My jobs on the farms were always caring for all livestock. In Arkansas, I used to ride a horse to free range with our cattle and goats grazed and hogs (both wild and tame) abounded, returning our livestock to the farm.

A 1949 article in Time magazine featured Luis Armijo as one of the few Catholic judges in the United States willing to say publicly that he would not obey the edict issued that year by Pope Pius XII, prohibiting Catholic jurists from granting civil divorces in any marriage solemnized by the church. Judge Armijo told Time, “I may be Catholic, but I am a citizen of the United States first.”

San Francisco Chronicle on the Sikh temple shooting (Aug. 6) — As usual, the details are sad and sickening. Wade Michael Page showed up at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., just as volunteers were gathering to cook lentils, yogurt and rice pudding for the faithful. He killed six men and women — ranging in age from 39 to 84 — injured three more, and shot a police officer who tried to aid one of the victims.

It may not be in dictionaries yet, but there’s a word combination being used these days to explain an increasingly common weather condition — “flash drought.” It’s being used by the media and climatologists alike to describe the current drought hitting the Midwest in particular, because this dry spell arrived in a matter of weeks and quickly destroyed an otherwise promising growing season.

Teaching an honors course in Cuba, N.M., I had the pleasure of being surrounded by some extraordinarily perceptive students. There’s no particular reason why Cuba, of all places, would have had such a bumper crop of bright students; it must have just happened.

After another disappointing drill — the Taylor Well No. 2 replacement well is only producing a sixth of what was expected — the city of Las Vegas finds itself in the same place it has been for years. While drawing 90 percent of its water from the Gallinas River, the city desperately needs to diversify its water sources.